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Last week, Gov. Susana Martinez issued an edict declaring, henceforth, members of her administration would no longer use their private email systems to transact official business of the state.
Martinez reportedly said even she would abide by her new directive.
The day following Martinez’s directive, news broke that her former corrections secretary, Lupe Martinez, had given an affidavit stipulating that the governor’s chief of staff actually instructed that private emails be used to circumvent requests for public records.
Conducting public business by means of private email accounts has been a source of controversy for Martinez from almost the beginning.

Their names may sound funny but their financial consequences are not: “Phishing,” “smishing,” “vishing” and “pharming” are just a few of the ways criminals gain access to personal information via your computer or smartphone. If you’re not careful, identity thieves can use harvested information to open fraudulent bank or credit card accounts, take out loans, rent apartments or even charge medical procedures to your insurance plan.
Unfortunately, every time the authorities plug one hole, crafty criminals figure out new ways to trick unsuspecting victims. Here are some identity theft scams to watch out for:

Staying the slow-growth course was the New Mexico population and income story for 2011. A guess is that slowness will be the 2012 story, too, what with loss of 1,500 jobs in May after nine months of ever so slight year-over-year gains.
The New Mexico economic pattern is performance better than some states but worse than what might be called our peers — Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma. Real gross domestic product is an example. Real GDP, says the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, is income plus production costs.
During 2011, New Mexico GDP grew 0.2 percent, as best as I can see from the computer map. That’s 41st nationally, but one-fifth the performance of the next lowest peer state, Oklahoma.

This is the fourth in the series on State House District 43. The district is large, diverse, and filled with active people and events. This report is necessarily brief and only covers a few events.
First, there is now more background information on the Las Conchas fire, the science, and proposed policy and technical responses. As I mentioned in my special report, one of the major events was the EPSCoR sponsored meeting on “Fire and Water: The Las Conchas Fire”. The final meeting report is at: nmfirst.org/_literature_139628/Town_Hall_on_New_Mexico_Fire_and_Water_Final_Report).

It’s tourism season again. In New Mexico, that means it’s also time for an uptick in purchases of Indian jewelry. But of all the money spent here for jewelry purportedly made by a Native American, about half is fake.
Visitors flying in to Albuquerque can walk into inviting shops at the airport and not find a single piece of jewelry created by a Native American artisan, according to Bruce Bernstein, executive director of the Southwest Association for Indian Art.
They will find instead Native American-looking jewelry made in China, Syria and Jordan. This stuff is out there in abundance, even in the epicenter of jewelry making, Gallup.

SANTA FE — What a great example of governmental efficiency and transparency. With a mere telephone request, Gov. Susana Martinez’s chief political advisor was able to get a list of all nonunion teachers in the state along with their school email addresses.
It required considerable work by at least two divisions of the Public Education Department. It was done so fast and efficiently that the PED information officer proudly attached an email message that went to his boss, the governor, her chief of staff and, of course, her chief political advisor.

In the 29 years since he bought Santa Fe-based Herbs, Etc. from its founder, herbalist Daniel Gagnon has worked hard to meet demand from the more than 2,000 U.S. retailers that carry the liquid herbal extracts and herbal medicines he manufactures.
Because quality control was critical to establishing and maintaining the company’s reputation, Gagnon imposed rigorous anti-microbial standards for his potions.
Traditionally, Gagnon eliminated unwanted microbes by processing his herbs with water and alcohol. But in 2000, he developed a way to remove the alcohol to produce an alcohol-free product using olive oil and soft gel encapsulation.

SANTA FE — Most New Mexicans outside of Santa Fe know that some pretty weird things happen in our capital city. And most of what you’ve heard is true. Here’s another one to add to your list.
The city of Santa Fe has a number of committees and boards designed to protect our 400-year heritage. It’s a good idea. No other communities in the nation have buildings that truly are 400 years old. But Santa Fe gets carried away protecting every other building in town.
Last week, the Historic Districts Review Board declared four Depression-Era houses across the street west of the capitol as too precious to be torn down to make way for a state executive office building.

Why do babies cry? The reason is simple enough — they learn to do what works. Babies learn that crying gets attention, brings food, gets them what they want at the moment.
Adults aren’t all that different from babies. We learn to do what works.
While campaigning back in 2008, President Obama angered Pennsylvanian voters when he characterized them as one issue voters clinging to their ideals on guns, God or gays.

On the same day as the New Mexico primary, Wisconsin voters decided not to recall their governor.
Pundits have been busy analyzing the tea leaves about that election. I’m considering the meaning for New Mexico. I think simply: Thank goodness we can’t do that here. The New Mexico Constitution does not allow for recall of a governor.
It is sometimes discussed among us policy wonks whether New Mexico should have “recall and initiative” like some other states. Recall is the opportunity to kick an elected official out of office by popular vote; initiative is the ability for citizens to put a proposal on the ballot directly, without going through the Legislature.